Shotokan Karate History

    Shotokan Karate is one of the oldest and most popular styles of Karate. It was developed at the beginning of the last century by Sensei Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957) from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
    Sensei Gichin Funakoshi, was born in Shuri, Okinawa in the Fall of 1868, and it is he who would have the greatest influence on the development of karate all over the world. Although a school teacher by profession, Sensei Funakoshi was considered to be one of the more proficient karate masters in Okinawa by the time he was in his early thirties. In 1902, Sensei Gichin Funakoshi and his students put on the first formal public demonstration of karate for Shintaro Ozawa, the commissioner of schools for Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture. Ozawa was so impressed by this art and the young men demonstrating it that he made it possible for Funakoshi's karate to be included in the schools on a formal basis. This action was against the wishes of many of the older karate teachers on Okinawa.
    1906 marked the first public demonstration of karate, but it wasn't until 1913 that Sensei Funakoshi was finally able to organize a demonstration team of approximately 25 men to travel around Okinawa and demonstrate this art to the public. Sensei Funakoshi was invited as the representative of the Okinawan Prefecture to demonstrate at the Butokuden (the official center of all martial arts in Japan) in 1916 and in Kyoto, Japan in 1917, but there was little more than passing interest at these displays. However, on March 6, 1921, the Crown Prince of Japan, Hirohito, visited Okinawa while en route to Europe and witnessed a karate demonstration in Shuri Castle's great hall.

    In the early Spring of 1922, Sensei Funakoshi returned to Japan at the request of the Ministry of Education to demonstrate at the first National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo. The martial arts community, particularly Jigoro Kano (the founder of judo), and the educational community were so impressed and so eager to learn that Sensei Funakoshi was convinced to remain in Japan. After that exhibition, Sensei Funakoshi was besieged by requests for him to stay on in Japan to teach karate. Two of the people requesting that he stay were Hoan Kusugi, the popular painter who later created the Shotokan Tiger, and Jigoro Kano. As a result, the 53 year old Master Funakoshi migrated from his home to teach and spread the art of karate to Japan.
    In 1925, Sensei Funakoshi began gaining students and developing clubs at the various colleges and universities in the Tokyo area.By the late 1930's, the karate movement was gaining strength, with Master Funakoshi having established and taught at more than 30 karate clubs on college campuses and at commercial businesses. Karate clubs were established, successively, at Keio University, Tokyo Imperial University, Shoka University, Takushoku University, Waseda University, Nihon College of Medicine, and other schools in the Tokyo area.
    The word Shotokan is composed of three kanji characters in Japanese. The sho character is taken from the word matsu which means pine tree. To is the character for waves. Pine Waves is supposed to mean "the sound that pine trees make when the wind blows through their needles." Some people also translate this to mean the waves that pine trees seem to make visually when bending in the wind. Sensei Funakoshi signed his works of calligraphy with the pen name Shoto. That is where the first part of the name of this type of karate came from. The word kan means building. The name Shotokan comes from the world's first karate dojo, which was constructed in 1939 by Funakoshi's students. They placed a plaque over the door that said "Shotokan", or " The Hall of Pine Waves", in honor of Funakoshi.
    When World War II started, many karateka left to fight for their country, and further development of karate as art was stymied. In 1945, with the return of the country's male population, karate and budo were developed and introduced into the public education system. Karate had thus become a way of life in Japan.
Almost immediately after the war, the karateka of Japan began reorganizing. Their goal was to build a large, strong organization. In May of 1948, the Nihon Karate Kyokai (the Japan Karate Association) was officially organized, with Master Funakoshi named chief instructor.
Sensei Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern karate, died on April 26, 1957. On his black, cross-shaped gravestone are the words "Karate ni sente nashi" ("There is no first attack in karate)

Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama

    After Sensei Funakoshi passed away in November 1957, Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama became the 2nd Chief Instructor of the JKA
Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama was born in 1913 and began training in Karate under the great master Funakoshi Gichin in 1931. After graduating from Takushoko University in 1937 he went to Peking to study Chinese, whilst there he also studied various styles of Chinese fighting.
As early as 1947, Nakayama had become the Coach of the Takushoku University Karate Team. In 1952 he was hired as part of the physical education staff and would eventually rise to become the director of that department. Among his many accomplishments are the creation of sport karate (the J.K.A. hosted the first All Japan Karate Tournament in 1957, which was the first world karate championship), the creation of the J.K.A. Instructor Training Program, and the spreading of karate to the world.
    He has published a number of books including "Dynamic Karate", an in depth study of Kihon (basics) and produced videos providing detailed technical and practical information on Kata, Kihon and Kumite.
    Sensei Masatoshi Nakayama passed away on April 15th, 1987 at the age of 74. He held the grade of 10thDan.